


Six Emotions and Then One More

by taberune



Category: Free!
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I'm not really sure how tagging works, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-30
Updated: 2014-07-30
Packaged: 2018-02-11 01:32:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2048181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taberune/pseuds/taberune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nitori and Rin are extremely different, personality-wise, but really, both of them are just lonely people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Six Emotions and Then One More

There is an emotion called **excitement**. Excitement is just a little hard to describe, because it’s a little different for everyone. One person could feel extra energetic, and another might feel like butterflies are coursing through their veins. Somebody might smile a lot more, and yet another person could express no outward appearance that would give him or her away.

The something that is constant, when it comes to excitement, is this rule. It applies to most everyone, as long as the event they’re excited for is something done with two or more people. This is the rule: the more you like the person you’ll be doing said activity with, the more excited you’ll be.

* * *

Nitori Aiichirou was very excited. He was super excited. He was bouncing-on-his-heels-and-beaming excited. Today was the grand opening of the new amusement park in town. As it was only a few blocks from Samezuka Academy, the silver-haired swimmer had poked, and prodded, and bugged his roommate until Rin had given in with a huff and agreed to go with him.

Since Rin had had something planned with the Iwatobi boys, he had told Nitori to meet him at the park, assuring him that whatever they were doing shouldn’t take too long.

It was just a little past 2:00, and they had agreed to meet at 1:30. Nitori didn’t really mind, though. He knew that Rin’s old friends were important to him. He had, however, worn a new pair of Converses that hadn’t been broken in yet, and his feet were starting to ache. Not daring to go somewhere more secluded, lest he miss his roommate’s appearance, Nitori perched himself on the rough stone edge of a nearby shark statue.

Quickly, an hour passed. Nitori called Rin to ask where he was, but reached his voicemail. The sky began to cloud, and Nitori chided himself for not bringing an umbrella. Another hour hurried by, and the clouds above were dark and heavy, and people were either starting to leave the park, or pulling umbrellas from their bags. Nitori chewed on his bottom lip, and decided to stay for just a little longer… what if Rin decided to come then? Nitori took a glance at his phone, but Rin hadn’t called him back.

Once again, an hour had gone by, and Rin was nowhere in sight. Time sure was flying that day. The sky was pouring, and the rain didn’t show any signs of letting up anytime soon. Nitori sighed. He would just have to make a run for it. He ducked out of his shelter and started to run, his shoes rubbing uncomfortably against his feet. He was soaked through in no time. 

* * *

Another one is **happiness**. People usually shine when they’re happy. Light practically radiates from happy people – from their toothy grins, from the sparkling luster in their eyes, from the pink tints that graze their cheeks.

Happiness makes you forget things too, and people can be so happy that they are absolutely unaware of anything else around them. 

* * *

Matsuoka Rin ran his tongue over his sharp teeth, smiling. His fingers hovered above the keyboard of his phone as he waited for the reply of who he was texting. The door to his room opened suddenly, and he looked up to see his roommate. “Hey, Nitori. Sorry I couldn’t make it. Haru and them somehow pulled me into running some errands with them, and we were fooling around, and it just took longer than I thought it wou – hey, why are you so wet?”

Nitori was tired from his sprint and the room was cold. He walked to his closet and pulled out a pair of boxers and his pajamas. “Forgot to bring an umbrella,” he mumbled, before shutting himself in the bathroom.

When Nitori finished showering, he immediately headed for his bunk. For some reason, his whole body felt extremely heavy. “Hey, how was the park, by the way?” Rin asks. “Nagisa asked. We might go as a group if it’s fun. Although, with them around it’ll probably be fun no matter what,” Rin added, chuckling.

Nitori shrugged, even though Rin wouldn’t see him from the bottom bunk. He shifted to his side and faced the wall, searching for a comfortable position. “I don’t know. I was waiting for you.”

“Wait, really? You should have just gone! That’s, like, three hours.” A tiny slice of guilt wedged itself into Rin’s heart, but he was still thinking about his day, and was happy. He didn’t really acknowledge it. “Sorry, Nitori. I tried to call, but you didn’t pick up.”

Nitori crawled back down the ladder and reached for his back. Though it’s contents are pretty wet, his wallet had protected the two flimsy paper tickets. He pulled them out and throws them in the direction of Rin. “You can use them if you go with Nagisa-kun and the others,” he says before returning to his bed. Nitori didn’t bother to look for his phone. He knew that he hadn't missed any calls.

Rin glances at his retreating body and wondered if he should say something, but was distracted by the ping of his phone, sounding a new message. He scanned it quickly before tapping a reply. It was quite obvious that Nitori was extremely disappointed, but Rin didn’t notice. He was still pretty drunk on happiness. 

* * *

 **Disappointment** is sort of like a cloud. It hangs over you, dampening and darkening your view. Sometimes, this cloud even brings the weight of the world with it, crushing you towards the ground. Sometimes, the cloud is so big, it makes it hard to see anything else. 

* * *

When Nitori woke the next day, the sun was high in the sky, but he dragged the covers over his head and curled into a ball. He knew very well that he was wallowing in self-pity and disappointment, and he wanted to wallow just a little more before he got out of bed.

He had known that Rin hadn’t been very excited for their little excursion, but he never would have thought that he would just leave him to wait and not even bother to text him or call him. ‘Though,’ a small voice at the back of Nitori’s mind said. ‘Not many people would wait three hours.’

No. They wouldn’t. He probably wouldn’t have either, if it were anybody apart from Rin-senpai. And that was it. He had figured it out.

Nitori emerged from his blanket cocoon. He was quite attached to his senpai, it was obvious. He knew it, Rin knew it, the whole swim team knew it. But he was sure that that was why he was feeling so dejected now. ‘So if I stop hanging around him so much, I won’t have to feel so disappointed if this happens again. And anyways, Rin-senpai always said that it was annoying how I always hung around him…’

With a new resolve that he didn’t feel entirely sure about, Nitori headed for the bathroom to start his day.

* * *

 **Satisfaction** is a debatable thing. Is it an emotion, really? For the sake of the story, let’s say it is. After all, you feel satisfied, just as you feel happy or sad, right?

Satisfaction is similar to happiness, but very different at the same time. Happiness can be achieved when someone else does something for you, or you witness something you like. However, satisfaction, you get from something you do yourself. Which sometimes means, that satisfaction feels a lot better than happiness. 

* * *

When Rin announced that he was going for his daily run, he first hovered by the door and waited for Nitori to hurry and pull his shoes on as he always did. “Well?” he asked. “You coming?”

Nitori looked up from the Japanese-English dictionary he was scanning and quickly shook his head. “No, thank you, Rin-senpai. I have something to do.”

Rin shrugged and left. It meant that he would be able to go a little faster tonight. Only when the thought entered his mind did he realize that he was setting the usual pace, and that the night felt awfully quiet without Nitori’s chatter. Whatever. It wasn’t like he could force him to run with him.

When Nitori told him the next day that he would stop going on runs with him (“I’ll only slow you down!”) Rin couldn’t help but feel put off, and cut his run by half to return to the dorms early.

When he finally drifted off to sleep, his face was twisted into a frown.

 

Nitori felt very satisfied with himself. He had already started to cut his spending time with Rin, and started to talk to the other people in his class and the swim team. It was quite the habit to break, however, and, at times, he would still feel the urge to tell his senpai about his day, or jump at the offer to watch a movie with him. Still, it was for the better. Something felt a little off to him, though. But he couldn’t put his finger on it. 

* * *

 **Regret** and **sadness** often comes hand in hand. Not always, but often.

Regret feels painful – like a tight rubber band being pulled back and then released, snapping into your heart. Sadness can be painful too, but a different kind. More like a twinge that can set you off anytime at all. 

* * *

When Nitori returns to the room after class the next day, he is met with a sight he never thought he’d see. Matsuoka Rin was sitting on his bed, face buried in his hands, his whole body shuddering. He was crying.

Immediately, Nitori ran to his senpai, ignoring the nagging voice in his head. “Rin-senpai! What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” He grips Rin by the shoulders and tries to get a look at his face.

Rin looked up and rubbed furiously at his eyes. “I fucked up. I always fuck up.”

Nitori pulls Rin to him so that Rin leans on his shoulder. “What happened, senpai?” Nitori asked, his voice soothing. He stroked Rin’s hair softly, in a ‘there, there’ sort of motion.

“Everyone fucking leaves me,” Rin mumbles. Tears were still pooling and trickling from his eyes, but he seemed calmer. “My father, you, and now I messed up with Haru and them.”

Nitori frowns. “I never left you, senpai.”

“Yeah? Then why have you been avoiding me, day and night? Ever since that time. And I know I messed up. It was my fault.” Rin starts to curl up again, and his breaths deepen.

“No! No, it’s not your fault, senpai. I just… I thought if I stopped being so clingy, I wouldn’t care so much when you… I wouldn’t leave you. And I’m sure whatever happened with Haruka-senpai will pass. Your friendship is stronger than that.”

Rin had stopped crying (though he was sniffling quite a bit) and was looking at Nitori in admiration. “How are you… so good at this? I’m just horrible with people.”

Nitori grinned and tucked a hair behind Rin’s ear. “I have two little sisters at home.” 

* * *

This last one is special. People don’t run into it all that much. Some who are lucky, or, unlucky, depending on how you look at it, run into it more than once in their lives.

This emotion, is **love**. Love makes you feel light and floaty and fluttery.

It’s a different emotion altogether, but love is also a combination of other emotions. Excitement and happiness and satisfaction rolled into one. Of course love is also described as a rollercoaster, so it’s no surprise that disappointment, regret, and sadness are also there.

There are different types of love – love for food, love for a pet, love for your family. But that’s not the type of love we’re talking about here. No. This love is not like the others at all. 

* * *

They sat in silence for a little while, and then Rin started to drift off. He lay down on his bed, and Nitori headed for the ladder to head for the top bunk. Rin reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him back. “Stay with me,” he mumbled. “Please,” he added, when he took in Nitori’s uncertain expression.

Nitori nodded and crawled under the blanket. “I’m really sorry, Nitori. Really. I won’t ever do it again. I promise.” Rin's voice was drowsy and heavy.

“It’s okay, Rin-senpai. You had something to do.” Though some part of Nitori felt that he shouldn’t forgive Rin so easily, the most part of him wanted to be close to him again.

“That doesn’t excuse me. I’m sorry.” Rin stopped talking, and Nitori waited for him to say something else before realizing that he was probably asleep.

“Goodnight, senpai,” he mumbled, and planted a quick kiss on the redhead’s forehead. NItori closed his eyes and almost immediately fell asleep, so he didn’t notice when Rin’s eyes opened and he didn’t really feel it when Rin’s lips pressed against his cheek. “Goodnight, Nitori.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope anyone who read this liked it! I also really hope I did rintori justice... Please leave a comment or kudos and tell me what you think!!


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